How can WeChat merchants survive after being “disdained” by friends?

The micro-businesses that were confused by the "three-no" facial masks simply chose to stay quiet in the circle of friends for a while.

The atmosphere at the 14th China Internet Conference on July 22 was pushed to a climax by a micro-business conference. The audience, whether seated or not, filled the venue, and many of them were concentrating on taking photos of every PPT of the speaker with their mobile phones.

Most of these viewers are micro-business practitioners. In the micro-business ecosystem that has been demonized, they are still seeking the most appropriate way to survive.

The micro-businesses who were forced to wake up

After the long Weibo post "Who bought the facial mask in the circle of friends" pushed the previously "inspirational" micro-businesses to another extreme and the selling of facial masks in the circle of friends was interpreted as a self-directed and self-acted drama, the circle of friends suddenly became a lot quieter.

Not only have the various facial masks that were once popular in the circle of friends disappeared, but the various "chicken soup styles" of WeChat business have also become quite rare.

Wu Ke (pseudonym), a micro-business operator from Shanghai, felt directly that business was not going well. "It's not just our team. Since May this year, many sellers have been complaining that their performance is declining and their products are not as easy to sell as before."

Inventory backlog has become the biggest complaint among dealers.

A micro-business brand researcher told the First Financial Daily reporter that among the current mainstream products of micro-businesses, skin care products still rank first, followed by clothing, third are high-end imitation luxury goods, and fourth are weight loss products.

Before this, facial masks have always been the mainstream of micro-business due to low production barriers and high product profits.

“Even if we stop production now, it will take at least five or six years to digest the facial masks in the entire WeChat business market.” The above-mentioned WeChat business brand researcher explained.

"Last year, WeChat business was supported by facial masks. The popularity of WeChat business is largely due to facial masks." Zhang Xi (pseudonym) once sold facial masks in WeChat Moments for a while. But her understanding of making money in WeChat business is that if you want to make a lot of money, you have to invest more and become a high-level agent, so that you can develop more subordinate agents.

However, after going through layers of agents, the goods were still not sold, which eventually led to the outbreak of the problem.

"There are often some teams saying that they have earned tens of millions, but these are mostly rumors. Everyone can tell at a glance whether they use software such as WeChat conversation generator or Alipay transfer screenshot maker," Zhang Xi added.

Now Wu Ke also understands that in the past year or so, many people's behavior of micro-business is consuming their own reputation. The result of posting a lot of product information in the circle of friends every day is that "many friends have blocked me. Friends who are annoying will be blocked directly, and the next best thing is to block my dynamic information."

What else can WeChat merchants sell?

However, the general disapproval of WeChat Moments does not seem to affect the confidence of WeChat business practitioners. At this Internet conference, WeChat business practitioners who have been branded as "selling three-no masks in WeChat Moments" hope to change this image.

The idea of ​​the Wechat Business Association is to turn the Wechat Business phenomenon into a Wechat Business force.

"Micro-business operates under a free model, which is not conducive to monitoring and management, so it gives criminals opportunities to take advantage. However, micro-business also has great positive effects. (It just) requires us micro-businesses to coordinate and improve ourselves with consumers and relevant departments." The relevant person in charge of the above-mentioned association explained.

But after the lesson of the three-no facial masks, the threshold for micro-business is also raising.

"It is difficult to succeed if you are just an individual or a guerrilla. If you focus on your circle of friends as a micro-business, the market will get smaller and smaller. A truly successful micro-business will not just focus on your own circle of friends. The circle of acquaintances is more of a starting point. Whether or not you can get out of this circle is actually a threshold for whether your micro-business can be successful." A micro-business market analyst told the reporter from China Business News.

In fact, since its development in 2013, WeChat business has been going through the stages from "individual WeChat business" to "team WeChat business" to "alliance WeChat business" and now to "platform WeChat business".

In addition to teamwork, what kind of products are suitable for WeChat business has also become a hot topic of discussion.

In this micro-business consumer market dominated by women, daily necessities with obvious brand logos for women and children are generally considered to be the focus of expansion.

"Products without brands, without reliable manufacturers, and with excessively high profits will definitely be abandoned," Zhang Xi explained.

Wu Ke believes that WeChat brands are not limited to WeChat Moments. "We will definitely return to offline, (at least) to provide consumers with a platform for service experience and communication offline."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.